Beyond the Dome

All of the attention Tuesday night is going to be on the big speech by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and whether she can really get all of her supporters behind Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. The bigger question, though, is whether she has truly settled on a vision of what her political future should be after the election is over.

Since she came back to the Senate in June, Clinton has gamely insisted she wants nothing more than to work hard for her New York constituents. But she still can’t quite get over sounding like a candidate. And all of the speculation that a President Obama might nominate her to the Supreme Court has never quite gone away — even among her Senate colleagues.

“She could go on to a long career in the Senate like Robert Byrd. She could become a justice on the Supreme Court,” said Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., who helped lead the cheers for Clinton at the Hispanic Caucus meeting.

But if Clinton’s political path leads nowhere except the Senate, her supporters say she might actually be okay with that.

“Knowing her as I do, she loves what she does in the Senate. She really does,” said Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez, one of Clinton’s New York colleagues.

Dallas City Council member Pauline Medrano, a Texas delegate who has known Clinton since the 1970s, said Clinton could become a “sounding board” for Obama on policy matters if she stays in the Senate — as well as a help in recommending appointments to get his administration up and running.

“Don’t forget, Bill and Hillary Clinton have experience in that — making appointments quickly,” she said.

But Blaze Wharton, a Utah delegate, doesn’t write off Clinton’s chances for a second White House run in 2012 if Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., defeats Obama in November. “Of course, we all want Barack Obama to be elected president now,” Wharton said, but “if he’s not, she has a shot in four years.”

Clinton may not shed much light on her future plans tonight, but the uncertainty on that question will add even more dramatic punch to her speech. “I think right now she’s focused on Nov. 4. On Nov. 5, we’ll wake up and see what the world looks like,” said Salazar. But whatever happens, he said, “I think there are a lot more chapters of her public service left to be written.”

Oh, and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner is giving the keynote address. Clinton is the “headline prime-time speaker.”

You’d never know that from the coverage, though.